User blog:From0to1/From0's beginner's guide to Entry Point
(LAST UPDATED: 5/29/19) Just started playing Entry Point and feeling lost? This tutorial covers the most important mechanics of Entry Point in a beginner-friendly way. Choosing a class In Entry Point, you start with one of four basic classes (e.g. Engineer, Thief), but with sufficient points in the skill tree, you can reach other classes to become a combined class (e.g. Engineer + Thief = Breacher) that has the characteristics of both. Here's a general overview of each of the classes: *Thief **Can pick locks, crack safes, and do other sneaky stuff ***Lockpicking is the only way to unlock a non-electronic door without damaging it, so it's extremely useful. **HIgh disguise effectiveness and overall stealthiness, useful for any stealth run. *Hacker **Can hack open keycard doors, hack computers, and do other techy stuff **Pretty good stealth and easy access to hacking- and gadget-related skills are a boon for any stealth run *Engineer **Can use C4, move faster while wearing armor, and disable sensors **Average stealth, but excellent access to both loud and stealth gadgets and skills. A wierd mix of loud and stealth skills, but nice to have in both roles. *Mercenary **Has a good health and stamina boost, and can take 2 weapon mastery perks **Average stealth, but this is a loud class through and through. *Infiltrator (Thief + Hacker) **One of the first classes you should have for stealth. Capable of opening doors of all types, hacking computers, and opening safes without a fuss-- not to mention general sneakiness. Lacks loud skills. *Technician (Hacker + Engineer) **A decent choice for stealth or loud, with a wide range of gadgets and access to any electronic device on the map. Lack of a lockpick is a weakness when soloing stealth on most maps. *Juggernaut (Engineer + Mercenary) **A great combination of armor, arms and gadgets, the Juggernaut is the best class to have on loud. However, the dual nature of the Engineer class means Juggernauts aren't completely useless in stealth. *Commando (Mercenary + Thief) **A slightly odd pairing of the loudest and stealthiest starter classes. Thief skills give it a lot of versatility in stealth runs, and Mercenary is useful when things go south. Intimidation is nice to have in stealth, and lockpicking and safecracking have their uses in loud *Breacher (Engineer + Thief) **Another good choice for either loud or stealth; armor speed bonus, loud gadgets, lockpicks, and the ability to disable sensors are all within reach. *Specialist (Mercenary + Hacker) **Another wonky pairing of Mercenary and a stealth class. Its main draw is allowing you to start a hack in loud and live to see it finish; it's very situational, so default to Juggernaut if you don't need to hack Remember that you can respec your points at any time without penalty, so don't hesitate to respec to change classes as necessary for a mission. You'll still start at your original base class, though, so choose wisely when creating a new character. A more detailed classes guide can be found here: https://entry-point.fandom.com/wiki/Classes_Guide Avoiding Detection So you've chosen your class and are ready to go out onto the field. At this point, you should know that every mission can be completed without being detected. Here are some of the things that NPCs find suspicious, and that you should watch out for: NPCs won't notice: *Unlocked doors *Looped cameras *Microcams *Trackers *Closed precision-drilled doors NPCs will become suspicious (and may investigate) if they notice: *The player acting suspiciously (such as lockpicking a door or tampering with a sensor); this can lead to alert if the detection bar is filled **NPCs may come to investigate if a player reaches 3/4 detection level, allowing them to be lured directly or through a camera. *Disabled (but not visibly damaged) cameras NPCs will become alerted if they notice: *Visibly broken cameras, doors, windows, etc. *Bodies or (from a closer distance) body bags *Players' black duffel bags *The player continuing to trespass after being discovered *The player using a loud drill (this can be heard as well) *(The camera operator:) too many cameras being disabled *Gunshots or explosives *Suspicious placeables such as proximity mines *Mission-specific events, such as an open vault, diamond drill, etc. The alarm will be sounded if *An alerted NPC successfully radios in an alert *An operative interrupts answering a radio, or tries to answer too many (default: 1) *An alerted NPC (e.g. camera operator, bank teller) presses the alarm button *The player opens alarmed doors, or breaks alarmed windows *Mission-specific events occur, such as guards not checking in Breaching Doors Doors in Entry Point can be breached in a variety of ways. As a beginner, here are the ones you should get to know first: *Drill: A loud breaching tool which comes in a slower, silent variant, the drill is effective on any door. Used normally, it will permanently break in the door, though precision drilling allows it to be closed, hiding the damage. The drill can be used by any class *Lockpick: currently the only way to unlock a non-electronic door while leaving it completely intact. An extremely useful and versatile skill that is only available to Thieves. *Keycard Scrambler: like the lockpick for keycard doors. A similarly-functioning blue keycard can be taken from neutralized guards; it is quicker and less suspicious than the scrambler, though it's useless once the alarm is sounded. Only available to Hackers. *C4: Your run-of-the-mill remotely-detonated loud explosive. Has a large blast radius, and on certain missions can be used to breach walls and saferoom doors. Only available to Engineers. DO NOT USE ON STEALTH *Crowbar: Similar to the (loud) drill but faster and takes up more inventory space. Currently non-buyable, and can only be picked up in Freelancer and Blacksite. Can be used by any class. *Firearm: Any wooden door can be opened by shooting the handle. Like using the silent drill but faster. Additional methods include the Blowtorch (like the loud drill but smaller and can cut windows; requires Firebug skill to use), Breaching Charges (a combination of C4's breaching speed and the loud drill's noise level and safety), and Rose's favorite, the Thumper. Choosing a Weapon Entry Point has a wide range of weapon types to choose from. Here are my opinions on each of them (ordered by price): *UP9: The default stealth weapon: cheap, easily concealed even with a silencer, decent clip size, and reasonable accuracy. Not the best choice for loud, though. *Raven: The UP9's flashy, loud-oriented cousin. Much smaller clip size but higher damage allow it to take down a few enemies quickly. Also good for flaunting your wealth and/or poor financial planning skills. *S97: One of my favorites for stealth. Bring this if you plan to shoot guards on sight (such as in the restricted zone of the Blacksite). It's even easier to hide with its mastery perk. *MM20: haven't tried this yet, no comment. *480 MCS: Powerful but slow to fire and reload, this shotgun's main advantage is the intimidation range bonus given by its mastery perk. *CH-A: Powerful but slow, the CH-A is extremely specialized. However, its shield-piercing mastery perk might prove useful. *CBR-C: A powerful, accurate, fast-firing semi-auto rifle. However, the clip size limits its utility in protracted close-quarters firefights. *F57: A mid-priced assault rifle and my default choice for loud runs due to its versatility in close and long ranges. Use the standard stock for best results; using it in stealth is pointless. The rifle mastery perk (which also applies to the CBR-C) mitigates the spread, *Sawblade: Like the F57 but heavier and with a larger clip size. Useful for defending a zone behind cover. *Thumper: Another specialized weapon which is also a breaching tool. If you have other plans for your doors, bring something cheaper and more useful. A less opinionated, more informative guide can be found here: https://entry-point.fandom.com/wiki/Weapons Situational Awareness Being aware of the situation is key to success as an operative. When making stealth entry, always keep tabs on the following (in order of threat level): *Cameras: At the top of the list because they're a smaller target to shoot and, unlike guards, damage to them cannot be hidden. Always disable or loop them when possible. *Guards: When you're in position for a surprise attack, both bashing and holding them up have their use cases. But when in doubt, just shoot them. *Civilians: Similar to guards but less of a threat. *Entrances to the room: Always watch out for incoming Guards or Civilians. *Safe areas to fall back to (such as places to hide a body) Category:Blog posts